The present invention relates generally to the electronically ordering and activating of a Portable Consumer Payment Devices (PCPDs), and more particularly to bulk ordering and activating multiple consumer devices, e.g. simultaneously.
PCPDs, such as gift cards, credit cards, debit cards, or prepaid cards, are used by consumers to conduct transactions on an ever increasing scale. Typically, an individual requests one type of PCPD at a time, activating it upon receipt. However, there are some consumers, such as corporate entities, who request large quantities of PCPDs at a time. These requests may be for corporate credit cards for key employees or even prepaid gift cards to be given as rewards.
Each PCPD ordered in bulk currently must be individually activated. This requires the entity who made the order to either take the time to individually activate the PCPDs, spending considerable time for large orders, or to distribute them to users with individual activation codes, whereby the users must take the initiative to activate the PCPD. Some users will activate their PCPD immediately upon receipt, where as others will not, possibly loosing the device or a required activation code in the delay.
Thus, the demand for some entities to order multiple PCPDs simultaneously has also created the need to develop techniques to allow those entities to activate multiple PCPDs in a convenient, time efficient manner.